A chronicle of Issues, Studies, News and other items of interest regarding Mormonism (2006-2013)

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Creationist Museum Soon to Open

http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1946370,00.htmlSo what's with all the dinosaurs?

The world's first Creationist museum - dedicated to the idea that thecreation of the world, as told in Genesis, is factually correct - willsoon open. Stephen Bates is given a sneak preview and asks: was therereally a tyrannosaurus in the Bible?

Monday November 13, 2006 The Guardian

Just off the interstate, a couple of junctions down from Cincinnati'sinternational airport, over the state line in rural Kentucky, thefinishing touches are being put to an impressive-looking building.When it is finished and open to the public next summer, it may, quitepossibly, be one of the weirdest museums in the world.

The Creation Museum - motto: "Prepare to Believe!" - will be the firstinstitution in the world whose contents, with the exception of a fewturtles swimming in an artificial pond, are entirely fake. It isdedicated to the proposition that the account of the creation of theworld in the Book of Genesis is completely correct, and its mission isto convince visitors through a mixture of animatronic models, tableauxand a strangely Disneyfied version of the Bible story.

Its designer, Patrick Marsh, used to work at Universal Studios in LosAngeles and then in Japan before he saw the light, opened his soul toJesus, and was born anew. "The Bible is the only thing that gives youthe full picture," he says. "Other religions don't have that, and, asfor scientists, so much of what they believe is pretty fuzzy aboutlife and its origins ... oh, this is a great place to work, I willtell you that."

So this is the Bible story, as truth. Apart from the dinosaurs, thatis. As you stand in the museum's lobby - the only part of the buildingapproaching completion - you are surrounded by life-size dinosaurmodels, some moving and occasionally grunting as they chew thecud.Beside the turtle pool, two animatronic, brown-complexionedchildren, demurely dressed in Hiawatha-like buckskin, gravely flutterwith movement. Behind them lurk two small Tyrannosaurus Rexes. Thisscene is meant to date from before the Fall of Man and, apparently,dinosaurs.

Theological scholars may have noticed that there are, in fact, nodinosaurs mentioned in the Bible - and here lies the Creationists'first problem. Since there are undoubtedly dinosaur bones and since,according to the Creationists, the world is only 6,000 years old - acalculation devised by the 17th-century Bishop Ussher, counting backthrough the Bible to the Creation, a formula more or less accepted bythe museum - dinosaurs must be shoehorned in somewhere, along with theBabylonians, Egyptians and the other ancient civilisations. As for theGrand Canyon - no problem: that was, of course, created in a fewmonths by Noah's Flood.

But what, I ask wonderingly, about those fossilised remains of earlyman-like creatures? Marsh knows all about that: "There are no suchthings. Humans are basically as you see them today. Those skeletonsthey've found, what's the word? ... they could have been deformed,diseased or something. I've seen people like that running round thestreets of New York."

Nothing can dent the designer's zeal as he leads us gingerly throughthe labyrinth of rooms still under construction, with bits of wood,and the odd dinosaur head occasionally blocking our path. The light ofkeenness shines from the faces of the workers, too, as they chisel outmountain sides and work out where to put the Tree of Life. They greetus cheerily as we pass.

They, too, know they are doing the Lord's Work, and each has signed acontract saying they believe in the Seven Days of Creation theory.Mornings on this construction site start with prayer meetings. Don'tthink for a minute that this is some sort of crazy littlehole-in-the-corner project. The museum is costing $25m (£13m) and allbut $3m has already been raised from private donations. It isstrategically placed, too - not in the middle of nowhere, but withinsix hours' drive of two-thirds of the entire population of the US.And, as we know, up to 50 million of them do believe that the Bible'saccount of Creation is literally true.

We pass the site where one day an animatronic Adam will squat besidethe Tree. With this commitment to authenticity, I find myself askingwhat they are doing about the fig leaf. Marsh considers this gravelyand replies: "He is appropriately positioned, so he can be modest.There will be a lamb or something there next to him. We are verycareful about that: some of our donors are scared to death aboutnudity."

The same will go for the scene where Eve is created out of Adam's rib,apparently, and parents will be warned that little children may bescared by the authenticity of some of the scenes. "Absolutely, becausewe are in there, being faithful to scripture."

A little licence is allowed, however, where the Bible falls down onthe details. The depiction of a wall-sized section of Noah's Ark isbased, not on the traditional picture of a flat-decked boat, but onedesigned by navy engineers with a keel and bows, which might, atleast, have floated. "You can surmise," says Marsh. When you getinside, there's nifty computer software telling you how they fittedall the animals in, too.

The museum's research scientist, Dr Jason Lisle, has a PhD inastrophysics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He realisedhe was a Christian while he was an undergraduate, but didn't spread itaround: "People get very emotional about the issue. I don't believe weshould ever be obnoxious about our faith. I just kept quiet." And howdid he pass the exams? "I never lied, but if I was asked a questionabout the age of the universe, I answered from my knowledge of thetopic, not my beliefs."

The museum's planetarium is his pride and joy. Lisle writes thecommentary. "Amazing! God has a name for each star," it says, and:"The sun's distance from earth did not happen by chance." There ismuch more in this vein, but not what God thought he was doing when hemade Pluto, or why.

Now, we are taken to meet Ken Ham, the museum's director and itsinspiration. Ham is an Australian, a former science teacher - thoughnot, he is at pains to say, a scientist - and he has been working onthe project for much of the past 20 years since moving to the US."You'd never find something like this in Australia," he says. "If youwant to get the message out, it has to be here."

Reassuringly, on the wall outside his office, are three framedphotographs of the former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh -"cricket's never really caught on over here" - and inside, on hisbookshelves, is a wooden model of a platypus. On top of the shelves isan array of fluffy poodle toys, as well as cuddly dinosaurs. "Poodlesare degenerate mutants of dogs. I say that in my lectures and peoplepresent them to me as gifts."

Ham is a large man with a chin-hugging beard like an Old Testamentprophet or an old-fashioned preacher, both of which he is, in a way.He lectures all over the world and spent a month in Britain earlier inthe summer spreading the message to the faithful in parish halls fromCornwall to Scotland. "We want to try to convince people usingobservational science," he says. "It's done very gently butforthrightly. We give both sides, which is more than the ScienceMuseum in London does."

This is true in that the Creation museum does include an animatronicevolutionist archaeologist, sitting beside a creationist, at onepoint. But there's no space for an animatronic Charles Darwin to fitalongside King David and his harp.

On the shelf behind Ham's desk lie several surprising books, includingRichard Dawkins' latest. "I've skipped through it. The thing is,Dawkins does not have infinite knowledge or understanding himself.He's got a position, too, it's just a different one from ours. TheBible makes sense and is overwhelmingly confirmed by observablescience. It does not confirm the belief in evolution."

But if you believe in the Bible, why do you need to seek scientificcredibility, and why are Creationists so reluctant to put theirtheories to peer review, I ask?

"I would give the same answer as Dawkins. He believes there is no Godand nothing you could say would convince him otherwise. You aredealing with an origins issue. If you don't have the information, youcannot be sure. Nothing contradicts the Bible's account of theorigins."

We wander across to the bookshop, which, far from being anotherbiblical epic, is done up like a medieval castle, framed with heraldicshields and filled with images of dragons - dragons, you see, beingwhat dinosaurs became. It is full of books with titles such asInfallible Proofs, The Lie, The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved and evena DVD entitled Arguments Creationists Should Not Use. As we finish thetour, Ham tells us about the museum's website, AnswersInGenesis.org.They are expecting 300,000 visitors a year. "You've not seen anythingyet," he says with a smile.